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The State Department apparently successfully thwarts an attempt by Russian hackers to penetrate its email system.”’ The entire computer network is quickly shut down for several days after evidence is found that a hacker entered the system. (The Washington Post, 11/16/2014)

It is alleged that the US government believes the Russian government is responsible. The attack begins when a department employee falls for “spear phishing,” a trick in which a computer user is is led to click on a bogus link that loads malicious software onto the network. It is believed that only the department’s unclassified network is infected, since the classified and unclassified networks are never allowed to reside on the same computer. But the damage is widespread, and thousands of computers in embassies and offices around the world are affected.

In February 2015, the Wall Street Journal will report that the department is still struggling to make sure all traces of the attack are gone from its network. (The Wall Street Journal, 2/18/2015)

In March 2015, Wired Magazine will later comment, “[A]t least, in that case, there was a response. If the same sort of highly resourced hackers had gone after the server in Clinton’s basement, there’s no guarantee that the same alarms would have gone off.” (Wired, 3/4/2015)